(CNN) -- Last week's attempted terror attack on an airplane
heading from Amsterdam to Detroit has given rise to a bunch of familiar
questions.

How did the explosives get past security screening?
What steps could be taken to avert similar attacks? Why wasn't there an
air marshal on the flight? And, predictably, government officials have
rushed to institute new safety measures to close holes in the system
exposed by the incident.

Reviewing what happened is important,
but a lot of the discussion is off-base, a reflection of the
fundamentally wrong conception most people have of terrorism and how to
combat it.

Terrorism is rare, far rarer than many people think.
It's rare because very few people want to commit acts of terrorism, and
executing a terrorist plot is much harder than television makes it
appear.

The best defenses against terrorism are largely
invisible: investigation, intelligence, and emergency response. But
even these are less effective at keeping us safe than our social and
political policies, both at home and abroad. However, our elected
leaders don't think this way: They are far more likely to implement
security theater against movie-plot threats.

The show or rather snow job is the utter non-sequitur of making the 99% of non-Muslims go through extra body checks that are only needed for 1% of the 1% of Muslims. Instead, ideological profiling to screen out radicalized Muslims dumb enough to set off bombs in their crotches in return for Allah's promise of paradise will be more than enough, followed by body search for them only.

Was the Xmas Underwear Bomber a false flag plant in order to test the mettle of the American people to more invasive govt. searches?
Check out: http://www.legitgov.org/northwest_bomb_plot_oddities.html

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to screen out a radicalized Muslim. Study Islam and its history free online with the Historyscoper and learn all you need free at http://go.to/islamhistory

Comment by Anonymous

Entered on: 12/30/2009 4:42:23 PM

'Is aviation security mostly for show?'

YEP! It is virtually ALL for show - And the sheeple are stupid enough to believe in it. The sheeple will give up their dignity, self-respect, honor, and pride and allow themselves to be patted down, felt up, partially undressed, interrogated, and threatened, and even allow their 12 and 13 year old daughters and aged mothers to go through a full body scan while some drooling perve. leers at them (and God knows what else) - all so the pathetic sheeple can 'feel' safe.